Posts Tagged ‘CICS’

With the zEC12 IBM boasted of the fastest commercial chip in the industry. It is not making that boast with the z13. Instead, it claims a 40% total capacity improvement over the zEC12. The reason: IBM wants the z13 to excel at mobile, cloud, and analytics as well as fast extreme scale transaction processing. This kind of performance requires optimization up and down the stack; not just chip speed but I/O processing, memory access, instruction tweaks, and more.

Testing mobile transactions on the z13

This is not to suggest that the machine is not fast. It is. Timothy Prickett Morgan writing in his 400 blog notes that the z13 chip runs a 22 nm core at 5 GHz, half a GHz slower than the zEC12. The zEC12 processor, the one touted as the fastest commercial processor, was a 32nm core that clocked at 5.5 GHz. Still, the z13 delivers about a 10 percent performance bump per core thanks, he writes, to other tweaks in the core design, such as better branch prediction and better pipelining in the core. The slightly slower clock speed reduces heat.

Up and down the stack IBM has been optimizing the z13 for maximum performance.

2X performance boost for cryptographic coprocessors

2X increase in channel speed

2X increase in I/O bandwidth

3X increase in memory capacity

2X increase in cache and a new level of cache

At 5 GHz, the z13, given all the enhancements IBM has made, remains the fastest. According to IBM, it is the first system able to process 2.5 billion transactions a day, equivalent of 100 Cyber Mondays every day of the year. Maybe even more importantly, z13 transactions are persistent, protected, and auditable from end-to-end, adding assurance as mobile transactions grow to an estimated 40 trillion (that’s trillion with a T) mobile transactions per day by 2025.

Given that mobile is shaping up to be the device of the future the z13 is the first system to make practical real-time encryption of all mobile transactions at any scale, notes IBM. Specifically, the z13 speeds real-time encryption of mobile transactions to help protect the transaction data and ensure response times consistent with a positive customer experience. With mobile overall, the machine delivers up to 36% better response time, up to 61% better throughput, and up to 17% lower cost per mobile transaction. And IBM discounts transactions running on z/OS.

To boost security performance the machine benefits from 500 new patents including cryptographic encryption technologies that enable more security features for mobile initiated transactions. In general IBM has boosted the speed of encryption up to 2x over the zEC12 to help protect the privacy of data throughout its life cycle.

Combined with the machine’s embedded analytics it can provide real-time insights on all transactions. This capability helps enable an organization to run real-time fraud detection on 100 percent of its business transactions. In terms of analytics, the machine deliver insights up to 17x faster at 13x better price performance than its competitors.

Further boosting performance is the increase of memory in the machine. For starters, the machine can handle up to 10 TB of memory onboard to help with z/OS and Linux workloads. To encourage organizations to take advantage of the extra memory IBM is discounting the cost of memory. Today memory runs $1500/GB but organizations can populate the z13 with new memory starting at $1000/GB. With various discounts you can get memory for as little as $200/GB.

So what will you do with a large amount of discounted memory? Start by running more applications in-memory to boost performance. Do faster table scans in memory to speed response or avoid the need for I/O calls. Speed sorting and analytics by doing it in memory to enable faster, almost real-time decision making. Or you can run more Java without increasing paging and simplify the tuning of DB2, IMS and CICS. Experience 10x faster response time with Flash Express and a 37% increase in throughput compared to disk.

As noted above IBM optimized just about everything that can be optimized. It provides 320 separate channels dedicated just to drive I/O throughput as well as performance goodies only your geeks will appreciate like simultaneous multithreading (SMT), symmetric multiprocessing (SMP), and single instruction, multiple data (SIMD). Overall about 600 processors (in addition to your configurable cores) speed and streamline processes throughout the machine.

Mainframes have the fastest processors in the industry –none come close–and with the addition of more memory, faster I/O, and capabilities like SMT and SIMD noted above, the z13 clearly is the fastest. For workloads that benefit from this kind of performance, the z13 is where they should run.

DancingDinosaur is Alan Radding, a long-time IT analyst and writer. You can follow DancingDinosaur on Twitter, @mainframeblog. Check out his other IT writing at Technologywriter.com and here.

With the introduction of the new IBM z13, the latest rev of the 50-year old mainframe product line introduced today, it will be hard for IT people to persist in the mistaken belief that the mainframe can’t handle today’s workloads or that it is too expensive. Built around an 8 core, 22nm processor, the IBM z13’s 141 configurable cores (any mix of CP, IFL, zIIP, ICF, SAP) delivers a 40% total capacity improvement over the zEC12.

The z13 looks like the zEC12 but under the hood it’s far more powerful

The IBM z13 will handle up to 8,000 virtual enterprise-grade Linux servers per system, more than 50 per core. Remember when Nationwide Insurance consolidated 3000 x86 servers mainly running Linux on a System z and saved $15 million over three years, a figure later revised considerably higher. They got a lot of press out of that, including from DancingDinosaur as recently as last May. With the IBM z13 Nationwide could consolidate more than twice the number of Linux servers at a lower cost and the resulting saving would be higher still.

If you consider Linux VMs synonymous with cloud services, the new machine will enable superior Cloud services at up to 32% lower cost than an x86-based cloud. It also will cost up to 60% less than Public Cloud over three years. In almost every metric, the IBM z13 delivers more capacity or performance at lower cost.

IBM delivered an almost constant stream of innovations that work to optimize performance and reduce cost. For example, it boosted single thread capacity by 10% over the zEC12. It also delivers 3x more memory to help both z/OS and Linux workloads. The more memory combined with a new cache design, improved I/O bandwidth, and compression will boost analytics on the machine. In fact, with the z13 you can do in-memory analytics if you want it.

The one thing it doesn’t do is boast the fastest commercial processor in terms of sheer speed. The zEC12 processor still is the fastest but with all the optimizations and enhancements IBM has built in the z13 should beat the z12 in handling the workloads organizations most want to run. For instance, the z13 performs 2X faster than the most common server processors, 300 percent more memory, 100 percent more bandwidth and delivers vector processing analytics to speed mobile transactions. As a result, the z13 transaction engine is capable of analyzing transactions in real time.

Similarly, simultaneous multi-threading delivers more throughput for Linux and zIIP-eligible workloads while larger caches optimize data serving. It also improved on-chip hardware compression, which saves disk space and cuts data transfer time. Also, there is new workload container pricing and new multiplex pricing, both of which again will save money.

In addition, IBM optimized this machine for both mobile and analytics, as well as for cloud. This is the new versatility of this redefined mainframe. Last year, IBM discounted the cost of mobile transactions on the z. The new machine continues to optimize for mobile with consolidated REST APIs for all z/OS transactions through z/OS Connect while seamlessly channeling z/OS transactions to mobile devices with the MobileFirst Platform. It also ensures end-to-end security from mobile device to mainframe with z/OS, RACF, and MobileFirst products.

For analytics, IBM continues to optimize Hadoop and expand the analytics portfolio on the z13. Specifically, the massive memory capability, up to 10TB, opens new opportunities for in-memory computing. The ability to perform analytics by combining data from different data sources and do it in-memory and in real-time within the platform drives more efficiencies, such as eliminating the need for ETL and the need to move data between platforms, as had previously often been the case. Now, just use Hadoop on z to explore data there within the secure zone of the mainframe. This opens a wide variety of analytics workloads, anything from fraud prevention to customer retention.

In addition to improved price/performance overall, IBM announced Technology Update Pricing for z13, including AWLC price reductions for z13 that deliver 5% price/performance on average in addition to performance gains in software exploitation of z13. DancingDinosaur will dig deeper into the new z13 software pricing in a subsequent post.

And the list of new and improved capabilities with the z13 just keeps going on and on. With security IBM has accelerated the speed of encryption up to 2x over the zEC12 to help protect the privacy of data throughout its life cycle. It also extended enhanced public key support for constrained digital environments using Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), which helps applications like Chrome, Firefox, and Apple’s iMessage. In addition, the z13 sports a few I/O enhancements, like the first system to use a standards based approach for enabling Forward Error Correction for a complete end-to-end solution.

Finally, IBM has not abandoned hybrid computing, where you can mix a variety of blades, including x86 Windows blades and others in the zBX extension cabinet. With the z13 IBM introduced the new Mod 004 zBX cabinet, an upgrade from the previous Mod 002 and 003.

DancingDinosaur expects the introduction of the z13 along with structural organization changes, will drive System z quarterly financial performance back into the black as soon as deliveries roll. And if IBM stays consistent with past behavior within a year or so you can expect a scaled down, lower cost business class version of the z13 although it may be not be called business class. Stay tuned; it should be an exciting year.

DancingDinosaur is Alan Radding, a long-time IT analyst and writer. You can follow him on Twitter, @mainframeblog, or check out more of his writing and analysis at Technologywriter.com or here.

Many IT professionals, especially younger ones, are clueless about the mainframe. Chris O’Malley, president of the mainframe business at Compuware, has met CIOs who are versed in everything about IT and have seemingly done everything there is with computers, but “they are not literate about the mainframe.” That means the mainframe never comes to mind. IBM could give away a zEnterprise for free, which it comes close to doing today through the System z Solution Edition program and these CIOs would ignore it. O’Malley wants to address that.

In response, Compuware is following the path of the IBM System z Academic Initiative, but without the extensive global involvement of colleges and universities, with a program called Mainframe Excellence 2025, which it describes as a generational call for strategic platform stewardship. “We’re also trying to debunk a lot of issues around the mainframe,” O’Malley continues.

Chris O’Malley, Pres. Mainframe, Compuware

Compuware refers to Mainframe Excellence 2025 as a manifesto, something of a call to arms for millennials to storm the IT gates and liberate IT management from enslavement to x86 computing. Somehow DancingDinosaur doesn’t see it happening exactly that way; it envisions coexistence and synergy.

Most of the Mainframe Excellence document goes over ground DancingDinosaur and many others have covered before. It is delightful, however, to see others refreshing the arguments. And, the document adds some interesting data. For instance, over 1.15 million CICS transactions are executed on System z every second of every day! That’s more than all Google searches, YouTube views, Facebook likes, and Twitter tweets combined.

It also pays homage to what it refers to as the mainframe’s culture of excellence. It characterizes this culture by rigorous adherence to a standard of excellence demonstrably higher than that associated with other platforms, notably x86. IT organizations actually expect, accept, and plan for problems and patches in other platforms (think Microsoft Patch Tuesday). Mainframe professionals, on the other hand, have zero-tolerance for downtime and system failures and the mainframe generally lives up to those high expectations.

Ironically, the document points out that the culture of excellence has created a certain chasm between mainframe professionals and the rest of IT. In fact, this ingrained zero-failure culture of the mainframe community—including both vendors and enterprise IT staffs—can sometimes put it at odds with the very spirit of innovation that allows the mainframe to deliver the repeated advances in price/performance and new capabilities that consistently produce tremendous value.

Combat denial and hype in regards to non-mainframe platform capabilities, costs and risks.

And Compuware’s final thought should give encouragement to all those who must respond to the mainframe-costs-too-much complaint: IT has a long history of under-estimating real TCO and marginal costs for new platforms while over-estimating their benefits. A more sober assessment of these platforms will make the strategic value and economic advantages of the mainframe much more evident in comparison.

Compuware certainly is on the right track with Mainframe Excellence 2025. Would like, however, to see the company coordinate its efforts with the System z Academic Initiative, the Master the Mainframe effort, and such.

DancingDinosaur is Alan Radding, a veteran IT writer/analyst. You can follow DancingDinosaur on Twitter, @mainframeblog. Also check out my other IT writing at Technologywriter.com and here.

On Wednesday IBM introduced what it describes as the industry’s first intelligent security portfolio for protecting people, data, and applications in the cloud. Not a single product but a set of products that taps a wide range of IBM’s cloud security, analytics, and services offerings. The portfolio dovetails with IBM’s end-to-end mainframe security solution as described at Enterprise2014 last month.

Cloud security certainly is needed. In a recent IBM CISO survey, 44% of security leaders said they expect a major cloud provider to suffer a significant security breach in the future; one that will drive a high percentage of customers to switch providers, not to mention the risks to their data and applications. Cloud security fears have long been one of the biggest impediments to organizations moving more data, applications, and processes to the cloud. These fears are further complicated by the fact the IT managers feel that much their cloud providers do is beyond their control. An SLA only gets you so far.

The same survey found 86% of leaders surveyed say their organizations are now moving to cloud, of those three-fourths see their cloud security budget increasing over the next 3-5 years.

As is typical of IBM when it identifies an issue and feels it has an edge, the company assembles a structured portfolio of tools, a handful of which were offered Wednesday. The portfolio includes versions of IBM’s own tools optimized for the cloud and tools and technologies IBM has acquired. Expect more cloud security tools to follow. Together the tools aim to manage access, protect data and applications, and enable visibility in the cloud.

For example, for access management IBM is bringing out Cloud Identity Services which onboards and handles users through IBM-hosted infrastructure. To safeguard access to cloud-deployed apps it is bringing a Cloud Sign-On service used with Bluemix. Through Cloud Sign-On developers can quickly add single-sign on to web and mobile apps via APIs. Another product, Cloud Access Manager, works with SoftLayer to protect cloud applications with pattern-based security, multi-factor authentication, and context-based access control. IBM even has a tool to handle privileged users like DBAs and cloud admins, the Cloud Privilege Identity Manager.

Here is a run-down of what was announced Wednesday. Expect it to grow.

Now let’s see how these map to what the z data center already can get with IBM’s End-to-End Security Solution for the Mainframe. For starters, security is built into every level of the System z structure: processor, hypervisor, operating system, communications, and storage.

In terms of security analytics; zSecure, Guardium, AppScan, and QRadar improve your security intelligence. Some of these tools are included in the new Cloud security portfolio. Intelligence is collected from z/OS, RACF, CA ACF2, CA Top Secret, CICS, and DB2. The zSecure suite also helps address compliance challenges. In addition, InfoSphere Guardium Real-time Activity Monitoring handles activity monitoring, blocking and masking, and vulnerability assessment.

Of course the z brings its crypto coprocessor, Crypto Express4S, which complements the cryptographic capabilities of CPACF. There also is a new zEC12 coprocessor, the EP11 processor, amounting to a Crypto Express adapter configured with the Enterprise PKCS #11 (EP11) firmware, also called the CEX4P adapter. It provides hardware-accelerated support for crypto operations that are based on RSA’s PKCS #11 Cryptographic Token Interface Standard. Finally, the z supports the necessary industry standards, like FIPS 140-2 Level 4, to ensure multi-tenanted public and private cloud workloads remain securely isolated. So the cloud, at least, is handled to some extent.

The mainframe has long been considered the gold standard for systems security. Now it is being asked to take on cloud-oriented and cloud-based workloads while delivering the same level of unassailable security. Between IBM’s end-to-end mainframe security solution and the new intelligent (analytics-driven) security portfolio for the cloud enterprise shops now have the tools to do the job right.

And you will want all those tools because security presents a complex, multi-dimensional puzzle requiring different layers of integrated defense. It involves not only people, data, applications, and infrastructure but also mobility, on premise and off premise, structured, unstructured, and big data. This used to be called defense in depth, but with the cloud and mobility the industry is moving far beyond that.

DancingDinosaur is Alan Radding, a veteran IT analyst with well over 20 years covering IT and the System z. You can find more of my writing at Technologywriter.com and here. Also follow DancingDinosaur on Twitter, @mainframeblog.

The summer is winding down, and IBM Enterprise2014 (October 6-10, 2014 at the Venetian in Las Vegas, October 6-10, 2014 at the Venetian in Las Vegas) will be here in a little over a month. It combines the IBM System z Technical University and the IBM Power Systems Technical University at one North American location. The advanced capabilities being featured at Enterprise2014 include: cloud, big data, and much more. Let’s look at a sampling of the z-oriented cloud and big data sessions. Subsequent posts will look at POWER and other topics.

The event also will include announcing the winner of the Mainframe Mobile App Throwdown, details here. Mobile is hot and poised to drive a lot of activity through the mainframe. The next generation of mobile apps will need to integrate with core applications running on the mainframe. DancingDinosaur readers know how to do that. Top prize for the Throwdown is an iPad, a pass to the IBM Enterprise2014 conference in Las Vegas, and even a week with IBM experts to help turn the app from a concept to reality. DancingDinosaur will be there to publicize the winners here. But the competition closes Sept. 17 so sign up soon.

For Mainframe Mobile App Throwdown ideas check out the session details at Enterprise2014. For example, Taking Analytics Mobile with DB2 Web Query and More! by Doug Mack digs into mobile features added to DB2 Web Query. He discusses how to sync a mobile device up with your favorite dashboards, or use the mobile app to organize and access reports offline. Leverage REST-based Web Services and application extensions to customize the user interface for reporting functions or schedule the reports to run in the background.

Now, let’s look at a sampling of the cloud and big data sessions.

How Companies Are Using IBM System z for Cloud—Fehmina Merchant describes how organizations are building secure and robust private clouds on System z to deliver their critical IT services with agility and at lower costs. The session will examine the unique capabilities of zEnterprise as a platform for private cloud computing, in effect providing the ultimate in virtualization, security, scalability and reliability. It also will cover how the newest IBM SmartCloud technologies can automate and optimize the deployment and management of services in the cloud. In addition, the session will offer some specific real-life examples and use-cases to illustrate how a private cloud built on zEnterprise and SmartCloud provide flexible IT service delivery at the lowest cost. The session will end with a live demonstrations of the latest IBM SmartCloud tools.

Should mainframe shops even care about cloud computing? That’s a question DancingDinosaur gets asked frequently. Glenn Anderson answers it in zEnterprise—Cutting Through the Hype: Straight Talk About the Mainframe and Cloud Computing. In this session he promises to explain why the cloud is relevant to a System z enterprise and helps z data center managers cut through the marketing hype.

For zLinux there is The Elephant on the Mainframe—Using Hadoop to Analyze IBM System z Data by Christopher Spaight. He describes the zEnterprise portfolio as including a rich set of options for the analysis of structured, relational data. But what, he asks, if the business needs to analyze data that is unstructured or semi-structured or a mix of relational and non-relational records? Many are looking to Hadoop in these situations. This session lays out the mainframer’s options for using Hadoop both on and off platform, and walks through several use cases for when it makes sense to use Hadoop. BTW, Hadoop on z is called zDoop.

Finally, HDFS, Hive and All That Big Data “Stuff” for IBM System z by Karen Durward looks at how the System z participates in the world of HDFS, Hive and more Big Data stuff. This session focuses on not only why z/OS data should be integrated into a Big Data environment but the various ways to do it. She will describe the latest on z/OS data integration with Big Data, Linux on System z as a Big Data platform, and more.

Then, when you have absorbed all the technology you can enjoy three evenings of live performances: 2 country rock groups, Delta Rae and The Wild Feathers and then, Rock of Ages. Check ‘em out here.

Alan Radding is DancingDinosaur. Look for me at Enterprise2014. You can follow this blog and more on Twitter, @mainframeblog. Find Alan Radding on Technologywriter.com.

DancingDinosaur didn’t have to cut short his vacation and race back last week to cover the IBM-Apple agreement. Yes, it’s a big deal, but as far as System z shops go it won’t have much impact on their data center operations until late this year or 2015 when new mobile enterprise applications apparently will begin to roll out.

The deal, announced last Tuesday, promises “a new class of made-for-business apps targeting specific industry issues or opportunities in retail, healthcare, banking, travel and transportation, telecommunications, and insurance among others,” according to IBM. The mainframe’s role will continue to be what it has been for decades, the backoffice processing workhorse. IBM is not porting iOS to the z or Power or i or any enterprise platform.

Rather, the z will handle transaction processing, security, and data management as it always has. With this deal, however, analytics appears to be assuming a larger role. IBM’s big data and analytics capabilities is one of the jewels it is bringing to the party to be fused with Apple’s legendary consumer experience. IBM expects this combination—big data analytics and consumer experience—to produce apps that can transform specific aspects of how businesses and employees work using iPhone and iPad devices and ultimately, as IBM puts it, enable companies to achieve new levels of efficiency, effectiveness and customer satisfaction—faster and easier than ever before.

In case you missed the point, this deal, or alliance as IBM seems to prefer, is about software and services. If any hardware gets sold as a result, it will be iPhones and iPads. Of course, IBM’s MobileFirst constellation of products and services stand to gain. Mainframe shops have been reporting a steady uptick in transactions originating from mobile devices for several years. This deal won’t slow that trend and might even accelerate it. The IBM-Apple alliance also should streamline and simplify working with and managing Apple’s mobile devices on an enterprise-wide basis.

According to IBM its MobileFirst Platform for iOS will deliver the services required for an end-to-end enterprise capability, from analytics, workflow and cloud storage to enterprise-scale device management, security and integration. Enhanced mobile management includes a private app catalog, data and transaction security services, and a productivity suite for all IBM MobileFirst for iOS offerings. In addition to on premise software solutions, all these services will be available on Bluemix—IBM’s development platform available through the IBM Cloud Marketplace.

One hope from this deal is that IBM will learn from Apple how to design user-friendly software and apply those lessons to the software it subsequently develops for the z and Power Systems. Would be interesting see what Apple software designers might do to simplify using CICS.

Given the increasing acceptance of BYOD when it comes to mobile, data centers will still have to cope with the proliferation of operating systems and devices in the mobile sphere. Nobody is predicting that Android, Amazon, Google, or Microsoft will be exiting the mobile arena as a result, at least not anytime soon.

Finally, a lot of commentators weighed in on who wins or loses in the mobile market. In terms of IBM’s primary enterprise IT competitors Oracle offers the Oracle Mobile Platform. This includes mobile versions of Siebel CRM, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, and a few more. HP offers mobile app development and testing and a set of mobile application services that include planning, architecture, design, build, integration, and testing.

But if you are thinking in terms of enterprise platform winners and losers IBM is the clear winner; the relationship with Apple is an IBM exclusive partnership. No matter how good HP, Oracle, or any of IBM’s other enterprise rivals might be at mobile computing without the tight Apple connection they are at a distinct disadvantage. And that’s before you even consider Bluemix, SoftLayer, MobileFirst, and IBM’s other mobile assets.

BTW, it’s not too early to start planning for IBM Enterprise 2014. Mark your calendar, Oct 6-10 at the Venetian in Las Vegas. This event should be heavily z and Power.

Back in February, IBM announced that SoftLayer was integrating IBM Power Systems into its cloud infrastructure, a move that promised to deliver a level and breadth of services beyond what has traditionally been available over the cloud. Combined with new services and tools announced at the same time, this would help organizations deploy hybrid and private cloud environments.

Back then IBM included the System z in the announcement as well by bolstering its System z cloud portfolio with IBM Wave for z/VM. IBM Wave promises to provide rapid insight into an organization’s virtualized infrastructure with intelligent visualization, simplified monitoring and unified management. Specifically, Wave helps the organization more easily manage large numbers of virtual machines.

Now it is June, the snow has finally melted and IBM’s SoftLayer is introducing Direct Link to the computing public. Direct Link had previously been available to only a select few customers. Direct Link, in effect, is a specialized content delivery network for creating hybrid clouds. Organizations would connect their private IT infrastructure to public cloud resources by going directly to the SoftLayer platform, which streamlines delivery over the network. Direct Link users avoid the need to traverse the public Internet.

The focus here is on hybrid clouds. When an organization with a private cloud, say a mainframe hosting a large amount of IT resources and services behind the firewall, needs resources such as extra capacity or services it doesn’t have, it can turn to the public cloud for those extra resources or services. The combination of the private cloud and tightly connected public cloud resources form a hybrid cloud. If you’re attending a webinar on hybrid clouds at this point the speaker usually says …and then you just punch out to the public cloud to get x, y, or z resource or service. It always sounds so simple, right?

As far as the System z goes, SoftLayer was not actually integrated with the z in the February announcement, although DancingDinosaur expects it will be eventually if IBM is serious about enterprise cloud computing. For now, the z sits in the on-premise data center, a private cloud so to speak. It runs CICS and DB2 and all the systems it is known for and, especially, security. From there, however, it can connect to an application server, dedicated or virtual, on the SoftLayer Cloud Server to form a Hybrid System z-Enterprise Cloud. As presented at SHARE this past spring, the resulting Hybrid System z-Cloud Enterprise Architecture (slides 46-49) provides the best of both worlds, secure transactions combined with the dynamics of the cloud.

Direct Link itself consists of a physical, dedicated network connection from your data center, on-premise private cloud, office, or co-location facility to SoftLayer’s data centers and private network through one of the company’s 18 network Points of Presence (PoPs) around the world. These PoPs reside within facilities operated by SoftLayer partners including Equinix, Telx, Coresite, Terremark, Pacnet, InterXion and TelecityGroup, which provide access for SoftLayer customers, especially those with infrastructure co-located in the same facilities.

Direct Link, essentially an appliance, eliminates the need to traverse the public Internet to connect to the SoftLayer private network. Direct Link enables organizations to completely control access to their infrastructure and services, the speed of their connection to SoftLayer, and how data is routed. In the process, IBM promises:

Higher network performance consistency and predictability

Streamlined and accelerated workload and data migration

Improved data and operational security

If you are not co-located in any of the above facilities operated by one of SoftLayer’s POP partners then it appears you will have will to set up an arrangement with one of them. SoftLayer promises to hold your hand and walk you through the set up process.

When you do have it set up Direct Link pricing appears quite reasonable. Available immediately, Direct Link pricing starts at $147/month for a 1Gbps network connection and $997/month for a 10Gbps network connection.

According to Trevor Jones, writing for Tech Target, IBM’s pricing undercuts AWS slightly and Microsoft’s by far. Next month Microsoft, on a discounted rate for its comparable Express Route service, will charge $600 per month for 1 Gbps and $10,000 for 10 Bbps per month. Amazon uses its Direct Connect service priced at $0.30 per hour for 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps at $2.25 per hour.

Your System z or new Power server integrated with SoftLayer can provide a solid foundation for hybrid cloud nirvana. Just add Direct Link and make arrangements with public cloud resources and services. Presto, you have a hybrid cloud.

BTW, IBM Enterprise 2014 is coming in Oct. to Las Vegas. DancingDinosaur expects to hear a lot of the z and Power, SoftLayer, and hybrid clouds there.

Is the core enterprise processing role handled by the mainframe enough? Yet, enterprises today often are running different types of workloads built using different app dev styles. These consist of compound applications encompassing the mainframe and a variety of distributed systems (Linux, UNIX, Windows) and different programming models, data schema, services, and more. Pieces of these workloads may be running on the public cloud, a partner’s private cloud, and a host of other servers. The pieces are pulled together at runtime to support the particular workload. Mainframe shops should want to play a big role in this game too.

“Mainframe applications still sit at heart of enterprise operations, but mainframe managers also want to take advantage of these applications in new ways,” says Brent Carlson, SVP at SOA Software. The primary way of doing this is through SOA services, and mainframes have been playing in the SOA arena for years. But it has never been as seamless, easy, and flexible as it should. And as social and mobile and other new types of workloads get added to the services mix, the initial mainframe SOA approach has started to show its age. (Over the years, DancingDinosaur has written considerably on mainframe SOA and done numerous SOA studies.)

That’s why DancingDinosaur welcomes SOA Software’s Lifecycle Manager to the mainframe party. It enables what the company calls a “RESTful Mainframe,” through governance of REST APIs that front zOS-based web services. This amounts to a unified platform from a governance perspective to manage both APIs as well as existing SOA assets. As Carlson explained: applying development governance to mainframe assets helps mainframe shops overcome the architectural challenges inherent in bringing legacy systems into the new API economy, where mobile apps need rapid, agile access to backend systems.

The company is aiming to make Lifecycle Manager into the system-of-record for all enterprise assets including mainframe-based SOAP services and RESTful APIs that expose legacy software functionality. The promise: seamless access to service discovery and impact analysis whether on mainframe, distributed systems, or partner systems. Both architects and developers should be able to map dependencies between APIs and mainframe assets at the development stage and manage those APIs across their full lifecycles.

Lifecycle Manager integrates with SOA’s Policy Manager to work either top down or bottom up. The top down approach relies on a service wrapping of existing mainframe programs. Think of this as the WSDL first approach to designing web services and then developing programs on mainframe to implement it. The bottom up approach starts with the copy book. Either way, it is automated and intended to be seamless. It also promises to guide services developers on best practices like encryption, assign and enforce correct policies, and more.

“Our point: automate whatever we can, and guide developers into good practices,” said Carlson. In the process, it simplifies the task of exposing mainframe capabilities to a broader set of applications while not interfering with mainframe developers. To distributed developers the mainframe is just another service endpoint that is accessed as a service or API. Nobody has to learn new things; it’s just a browser-based IDE using copy books.

For performance, the Lifecycle Manager-based runtime environment is written in assembler, which makes it fast while minimizing MIPS consumption. It also comes with the browser-based IDE, copybook tool, and import mappings.

The initial adopters have come from financial services and the airlines. The expectation is that usage will expand beyond that as mainframe shops and distributed developers seek to leverage core mainframe code for a growing array of workloads that weren’t on anybody’s radar screen even a few years ago.

There are other ways to do this on the mainframe, starting with basic SOA and web services tools and protocols, like WSDL. Many mainframe SOA efforts leverage CICS, and IBM offers additional tools, most recently SoftLayer, that address the new app dev styles.

This is healthy for mainframe data centers. If nothing else SOA- and API-driven services workloads that include the mainframe help lower the cost per workload of the mainframe. It also puts the mainframe at the center of today’s IT action.

Some question how sensitive IBM is to System z costs and pricing. Those that attended any of David Chase’s several briefings on System z software pricing at Enterprise 2013 this past October, however would realize the convulsions the organization goes through for even what seems like the most trivial of pricing adjustments. So, it is not a small deal that IBM is introducing something called Value Unit Edition (VUE) pricing for System z software.

VUE began with DB2. The purpose is to give z data centers greater pricing flexibility while encouraging new workloads on the z. VUE specifically is aimed at key business initiatives such as SOA, Web-based applications, pureXML, data warehousing and operational business intelligence (BI), and commercial (packaged) applications such as SAP, PeopleSoft, and Siebel. What started as a DB2 initiative has now been extended to WebSphere MQ, CICS, and IMS workloads.

In short, VUE pricing gives you a second pricing option for eligible (meaning new) z workloads. BTW, this eligibility requirement isn’t unusual with the z; it applies to the System z Solution Edition deals too. Specifically, VUE allows you to opt to pay for the particular software as a one-time capital expenditure (CAPEX) in the form of a one-time charge (OTC) rather than as a monthly license charge (MLC), which falls into the OPEX category.

Depending on your organization’s particular circumstances the VUE option could be very helpful. Whether it is more advantageous for you, however, to opt for OTC or MLC with any eligible workload is a question only your corporate accountant can answer (and one, hopefully, that is savvy about System z software pricing overall). This is not something z data center managers are likely to answer on their own.

Either way you go, IBM in general has set the pricing to be cost neutral with a five-year breakeven. Under some circumstances you can realize discounts around the operating systems; in those cases you may do better than a five-year breakeven. But mainly this is more about how you pay, not how much you pay. VUE pricing is available for every System z model, even older ones. Software running under VUE will have to run in its own LPAR so IBM can check its activity as it does with other software under SCRT.

The ability to consolidate or grow new workloads without increasing operational expense

Deployment on a z New Application License Charge (zNALC) LPAR, which, as expected, runs under the zNALC terms and conditions

Of course, new applications must be qualified; it really has to be new

Allows a reduced price for the z/OS operating system

Runs as a mixed environment, some software MLC some OTC

Selected ISV offerings qualify for VUE

Overall, System z software pricing can be quite baffling. There is nothing really comparable in the distributed world. The biggest benefit of VUE comes from the flexibility it allows, OPEX or CAPEX, not from not from any small discount on z/OS. Given the set of key software and middleware VUE applies to the real opportunity lies in using its availability to take bring on new projects that expand the footprint of the z in your organization. As DancingDinosaur has pointed out before, the more workloads you run on the z the lower your cost-per-workload.

IBM’s Enterprise 2013 conference in Orlando is coming up soon, starting Oct. 21. It will combine the System z and the Power Systems technical universities with an Executive Summit. DancingDinosaur will be there and just had a chance to look over the System z session catalog, all 43 pages packed with interesting System z programs. Here are few that should be of particular interest.

BYOD –The Return of Terminals. DancingDinosaur touched on this just a couple of weeks ago here. The session will delve into what it sees as an IT revolution, where mobile devices start replacing PCs the way PCs replaced terminals. So why is this good news for the mainframe data center? Because it brings control of end user computing back to the mainframe data center. Other mobile System z sessions look at ways to connect mobile apps to the z, the use of Worklight with the z, and the basics of enterprise mobile computing

z/OS Applications –Adapting at the Speed of Business. The session looks at how to respond to business people hammering on your door to make changes to production applications immediately. Typically these changes are small, more about changing the business behavior of the application than any real structural change, or maybe they are timed to your business cycle. In any case, the session examines ways to handle those changes with shorter turnaround while also establishing a common terminology between you and the business analysts. IBM has decision management technology that can tightly integrate with your existing COBOL and PL/I applications to handle those changes. A sort of IBM’s version of DevOps for the z although it also has DevOps solutions. Anyway, the result can be more stable applications performing as well or better than they do now, while delivering the behavior the business wants. Specifically, the session will show how to use the IBM Operational Decision Manager to make your z/OS applications more responsive to the ever-changing demands of the business teams.

Moving from a Legacy Mainframe System to a Modern Environment—a case study. Actually Enterprise 2013 appears to be packed with case studies. Here Fidelity Investments will discuss how it moved from a legacy z system to a modernized agile z-based environment that supports the requirements of their customers. The session will focus on how Fidelity used Rational tools on z to build out and deploy the new environment.

IBM DevOps Solution: Collaborative Development to Spark Innovation and Integration among Teams—as it turns out, Enterprise 2013 features a number of sessions focused on DevOps, which combines app dev with an agile deployment approach. The basic idea is that application development cannot be sustained in disjointed silos. New mobile, social, big data and analytics projects demand the development process to be fast, integrated, creative, and affordable. Furthermore, business needs change quickly, making it necessary to re-prioritize work and shift resources to different projects efficiently. With advanced, productive and unified development environments from Rational and middleware from CICS, this session will show you how you can apply talent across boundaries and keep the focus on innovation and high quality code development and test.

A related session is IBM DevOps Solution: Accelerating the Delivery of Multiplatform Applications. Here mobile, social, big data, and cloud technologies are driving the demand for faster and more recurrent approaches to software delivery across all platforms, middleware, and devices. The ultimate goal is to push out significantly more features in each release and get more releases out the door with confidence, while maintaining compliance and quality. DevOps is hot; if your shop hasn’t tuned into DevOps yet, Enterprise 2013 will be a good place to get up to speed.

Moving CICS Applications into the Cloud—the cloud is going to be increasingly central in almost all you do going forward and CICS has to be there. This session introduces CICS TS 5.1 as new infrastructure to increase your service agility and move towards a service delivery platform for cloud computing. For agile service delivery, CICS resources are packaged together, hosted as applications on a platform, and managed dynamically with policies. The latest release of CICS IA (Interdependency Analyzer) allows you to gain far greater insight into your applications and their dependencies while fine-tuning application performance and identifying bottlenecks. And then there is the CICS concept of a platform. Platforms provide services and resources so that applications can be rapidly deployed based on their requirements, combined with policies that enable the behavior of applications and platforms to be managed by determining whether tasks running as part of a platform, as an application, or as types of operations within an application. Expect many CICS sessions on every topic imaginable as CICS emerges as one of the central components of IBM’s expanded idea of the mainframe.

The Enterprise 2013 program is rich with System z material. DancingDinosaur will take up more of it next week. In the meantime, please register for the conference and feel welcome to introduce yourself to me at the event. You’ll find me wherever analysts, bloggers, and journalists hang out. Also, feel welcome to follow me on Twitter, @mainframeblog.

About DancingDinosaur author

Alan Radding, the author of DancingDinosaur, is a 20-year IT industry analyst and journalist covering mainframe, midrange, PC, web, and cloud computing. Feel welcome to check out his website -- http://www.technologywriter.com.